In stores, refrigerated sales goods are stored and presented in refrigerated sales cabinets. For removal of goods, the refrigerated cabinet comprises an access opening arranged in a vertical opening plane, the cooling chamber being subdivided into separate individual bins by means of shelf boards arranged vertically above each other. Such cooling cabinets are sufficiently known from the state of the art, notably those of the type having an open-fronted cooling chamber as well as those of the type provided with pivotable doors for forming a cooling chamber which is closed on all sides, the latter type allowing for economically favorable storage of goods at a temperature below +5° C.
In conventional refrigerated cabinets which are open during shop hours so that customers can have unobstructed access to the sales goods, the cooling air generated within the refrigerated cabinet is supplied into the cooling chamber through the rear wall of the cabinet in an undirected manner. A so-called cold-air curtain further streams at a relatively high speed within the access opening of the refrigerated cabinet from the upper end to the lower end of the cabinet. This well-directed cold air flow forms an invisible curtain between the cooled air volume within the cooling chamber and the warmer ambient air. On the whole, such refrigerated cabinets produce high energy losses.
Only outside of store operating hours, in order to save costs and energy, that the open cooling chamber of such refrigerated cabinets will be closed by corresponding night covers. Such a night cover is normally provided as a roller blind which in its non-use position is wound into a roll arranged in the upper region of the refrigerated cabinet. At the end of the store hours, the roller blind will be manually or automatically moved, particularly shifted, into a cover position, thus closing the cooling chamber of the refrigerated cabinet against the warmer ambient air.
Other refrigerated cabinets provide doors for closing the cooling chamber, which are pivotable about a vertical line for opening the chamber. In contrast to pen-fronted refrigerated cabinets, energy is thereby also saved during store operating hours. However, such closed doors tend to have a negative effect on the visibility of the sales goods in the refrigerated cabinet. The customer must also open at least one door to be able to remove the presented goods from within the refrigerated cabinet. This may cause a reduction of turnover sales during peak store operating hours.